Anxiety disorders are a common mental health condition. When you react to situations that cause fear, you may feel anxious. This anxiety often appears together with physical signs that are easy to recognize.

 

The body produces sweat when body temperature rises, which helps it cool down.

Sometimes, however, sweating occurs as a reaction to fear or stress. Anxiety-related sweating can appear across the body, especially on the palms, soles, face, and underarms.

Another physical sign of an anxiety disorder is a pounding heartbeat. This sign can feel like rapid, fluttering, or skipped heartbeats, commonly called heart palpitations.

Palpitations occur as part of the body’s autonomic nervous system response. When a situation makes you uncomfortable, this system increases your heart rate.

Anxiety disorders can affect nearly every body system, including the cardiovascular, endocrine, musculoskeletal, nervous, reproductive, respiratory, and digestive systems. In the digestive tract, anxiety may lead to nausea, acid reflux, abdominal pain, bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, or painful intestinal cramps.

When you feel stressed or anxious, the body releases a surge of hormones. Neurotransmitters in the brain signal the body to speed up the heartbeat, increase breathing rate, tighten muscles, and direct more blood to the brain.

Muscle tension is a symptom seen in generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and others. Muscle tension linked to anxiety disorders may include:

Dry mouth, or xerostomia, is another sign of anxiety. When you are anxious, you tend to breathe through your mouth. Dry air entering the mouth can lead to dryness.

Just like muscle tension and abdominal discomfort, anxiety can also cause numbness or a tingling sensation. Two factors influence this:

Anxiety often arises when you feel threatened or stressed. To handle the perceived danger, the body activates a fight-or-flight response.

During this reaction, the brain sends signals that increase blood flow to the muscles. Rapid shifts of blood away from the hands and feet can cause temporary numbness.

When you feel anxious, your breathing may become faster and less regular. Although brief, this can lower carbon dioxide levels in the blood.

As a result, blood vessels that supply the brain constrict. When this happens, you can feel numbness and tingling sensation. In severe hyperventilation, fainting may occur.

 

Symptoms of an anxiety disorder can resemble a heart attack or another emergency. If you are unsure whether you are having a heart attack or anxiety, seek medical care.

 

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